


The replacement

by Ephy



Series: Street rat [8]
Category: Batman (Comics)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-26
Updated: 2014-06-26
Packaged: 2018-02-06 07:40:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 823
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1849921
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ephy/pseuds/Ephy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>I saw Robin the other day, he's back! Yeah, really, he is, that was him! He totally is back!</p>
            </blockquote>





	The replacement

Tim’s first reaction when he learnt Robin was back in town had been hope. That could only mean Bruce and Dick had made peace and he was going to see them fly together once again. He spent his whole night on Gotham’s roofs, searching the sky for the well-known shades.

When he finally managed to spot them, a few weeks later, Tim felt his stomach turn into knots. It _wasn’t_ Dick. It was _another boy_.

Who _dared!?_

And yet – yet it definitively was Batman.

_How dare he?_

Tim went back home, disgusted, without taking more than two or three pictures.

Of course, he then started looking into _who_ that might be. He got an answer two days later when Bruce Wayne announced very publicly he was adopting a street kid named Jason Todd. Journalists went crazy for it, women approving of his tender heart while hoping the new child would be easier to pin for their daughters than Dick Grayson. After all, Brucie’s fortune could only go to one of them, maybe only Jason, since _he_ was adopted and Dick was _only_ his ward.

Tim didn’t like it. At all. It was bad enough that Dick and Bruce fought and that Dick moved _out of Gotham_ where he _couldn’t see him at all_. But now, Bruce was actually _replacing_ him? Did he _want_ Dick never to come back?

Maybe he did.

Maybe he felt alone without a Robin?

Tim needed more information.

Hence, he spent his next nights back on the roofs and most of his days browsing forums. Most of them were full of useless fans who wrote fictions about Batman and Robin – seriously! They were _real people_! And nothing would be better than the truth anyway. Tim kept hoping they’d get together someday.

A few were _real_ fans though, who either used their eyes or cameras to spot Batman and Robin. Most didn’t manage it more than once or twice, which, okay, Tim could get since Batman changed his path every other night or so and they didn’t know where it _started_.

They all agreed though: Batman was feeling better since Robin “came back”. Fangirls of all ages talked about how he was happy to have his lover back. Which was, like, _gross_ since Todd was only _14_. And wasn’t _Dick_.

However, they had a point: thugs’ beatings had decreased (or at least, less of them ended up in the hospital and more of them in jail). Tim could also see that Bruce looked like he got less wounded. He took less risks since he got that new Robin.

But _still!_

From what he could gather, Jason Todd was as different from Dick as one could be. His parents were both dead – but one died in prison and the other of overdose. He slipped out of Gotham Children Care System to live in the streets when he was ten. He actually had a _file_ at GCDP – Tim didn’t manage to break into it but that meant Todd had been arrested at least once!

And he lived in Gotham’s streets. There was no way he had the same sunny smile or light _mood_. Robin – the _real_ one – made people happy just by standing there and grinning.

There was no way Todd would last long. Tim spent more and more of his night on the roofs, watching: he’d be there when he’d screw up.

Then… Well. Jason punched too hard and his pranks were too cruel to be fun, but… sometimes, he let out a _real_ laugh – not mocking, not harsh – and it felt so _good_ to hear it because it meant he was happy to be there, at Batman’s side, flying over the city.

And then, Jason was good with kids. He treated them like actual sentient beings and listened to them and protected them.

And he was always there when Batman needed him and Tim _saw_ how Jason _felt_ it when Batman needed him to put a hand on his arm, or just stand closer. And Batman would relax when he did.

At some point, Tim got up in the evening thinking _perhaps I’m going to see Batman and Robin today_ and froze, because, Jason Todd _was_ Robin now and that should feel _wrong_ but somehow _didn’t_.

Tim felt like he betrayed Dick. And yet… yet. Yet Dick had chosen himself a new name, and a new city, and maybe it was alright? Tim still missed him horribly – they barely talked at all even when they crossed path in some galas but… Just knowing he was there to look over the city, to look over Batman – and those who thought Robin was the one needing help really didn’t get it – and…

But there was someone else for this now, right?

Dick was still amazing, even as Nightwing. No one could be as amazing.

And Jason wasn’t Dick, but he was what Batman needed. He was what _Gotham_ needed.

He was _Robin_.

**Author's Note:**

> And here was Tim :) He was the one missing.  
> He's about 9 or 10 at the time, which explains why his vocabulary isn't quite as elaborated as one would expect from him.  
> It was a hard POV to write even though I really like Tim, I hope it doesn't show too much ^^;  
> Note: yes, having Tim call Jason “the replacement” it entirely ironic, of course, since Jason will call Tim _his_ replacement, someday.


End file.
